Understanding deaths - 'a dead born child'

I'm a medical doctor so I find cause of death an interesting and powerful part of understanding the past. But an individual's information tells us about something that might have been bad luck or random or .... But what if we could combine the information about why people died over the centuries, across family lines, in different places and whether young or old? We would get an understanding of the forces acting on the lives of our ancestors and their families. 

While in Scotland I spent a day at the National Records Office in Edinburgh, extracting the information from all death certificates of the descendants of Robert Buchan b1813. When I go back next year I will do the same for the other siblings; George b1802 will be the doosey.

Up until 1855, information on causes of death was dependant on either the clergyman recording this on a burial register or cemetery records. Examples of each of these from our family are:

1. Excerpt from Old Parish Registers Deaths for Parish 695, Newbattle, page 318 of 331 - Jean/Jane Johnston died 1849:

The columns across the page are Date of Death (April 24), Date of Burial (April 26), Name of Deceased (Jane Johnston), Residence (Newlandrigg), Parish (Borthwick), Funeral ordered by (Robert Buchan), Relation (Son), Decease [?] (Decline), Age in years (70), or if in months. Although the New Newbattle Cemetery was opened in 1813, I strongly suspect that this burial occurred in the Newbattle Churchyard (or Old Cemetery). Jane/Jean would have been buried with her husband if possible, and he was buried in Newbattle in 1818. Their children James, Robert and Helen are all buried in Newbattle Churchyard in a small area of four related plots.

On this page are causes (with age of deceased) like:

Hooping [whooping] cough (6, 9m, 9m, 5, 4, 2, 11m), Decline (20m, 74, 2w, 23, 49), Cholera (55, 15), Scarlet Fever (9, 3, 9, 12), A Cold (12d), Measles (9), Childbed (18), Effects of Bathing (6), Palsy (83), Bowel [?] (7m), Dropsy (64), Inflammation (9m, 2, 44) and one still birth.

The parishes where these people lived were quite disparate (with number of):

Newbattle (10), Newton (8),  Cockpen (6), Dalkeith (4), Lasswade (4),and St Marys [?], Edinburgh (1). Jane/Jean Johnston was the only resident from Borthwick. Dalkeith is literally across the road, Newton is north of Dalkeith 2-3kms away, Lasswade is 4 km away and Cockpen 3km away.

2. Excerpt from Old Parish Registers for Parish 685, St Cuthbert's, page 29 of 173, Jane Drysdale Buchan:

Even more impressively neat than the Newbattle cemetery, is this book from St Cuthbert's Parish. Jane or Jean Drysdale, mother of Jane Drysdale, later known as Jane Drysdale Buchan is recorded as follows:

No. 679, Date of Death (1848 Oct 19), Name and Profession or Designation of Deceased (Drysdale, Jane = her maiden name), Relationship - If a married female or child (Wife of), Name and Designation of Head of Family or other relative (David Wylie, Seaman), Age in Years, Mon., and Days (35), Place of Death (71 Shore, Leith), Cause of Death (Cholera).

On this page are causes (with age of deceased) like:

British Cholera (47), Cholera (33, 47, 25, 46, 48, 70, 28), Scarlet Fever (3, 1), Weakness (7), Complicate [?] (2, 30), Croup (1, 3), Water in head (9m, 3m), Severe colitis (21), Decline (40), Inflam Childbed (22), Remitting Fever (8) and Effect Passion (26). Almost of these people were residents of Leith or Newhaven, adjacent locations, and the relevant cemetery must lie to the north of what was a very large parish over the centuries. 

3. Old Parish Registers Deaths Parish 683, Dalkeith, page 261 of 456. A much earlier example shows the dearth of death information before the emergence of an interest in causes of mortality in the early 1800s. James Buchan from Dalkeith died 1763:

As the second last entry on the page, here: "Ja[mes] Buchan in the left hand column, Dyed James Buchan Mason Jun 12th inter[re]d 13th". No cause of death is provided, but the occupation of the three men are given - Labouring Man x2 and Mason; the two children are noted as such in the left hand column; while the one woman, Mary Thom, is recorded as the Da[ughter] to John Thom and it is unclear if she was married. I suspect not. 

As I tabulate causes of death, I expect I will record largely infectious disease for children, the occasional accident, and increasingly in the 19th century as coal mining comes to dominate Midlothian rural life, industrial accidents. 

The 18th Century

I noted in a review of the Old Parish Registers, that Midlothian was one of the better documented counties for burial records, and Dalkeith in particular was exceptional. I was able to find that in the early 18th Century, two families of Buchans lost most of their 10 children each in infancy or teen years. 

Thomas Buchan and Janet Thomson who married in 1702 in Dalkeith had four children baptised between 1703 and 1710. Only their three sons Charles b1703 who married Margaret Lawson, John b1705 who married Mary Anderson, and James b1710 who married Agnes Smith survived to adulthood. Thomas then married Agnes Yuille and had six children. Seven of these children are recorded in burial records while still children.

Charles Buchan and Margaret Lawson married in 1727 in Loanhead, in Lasswade parish. Thomas Buchan [perhaps his father] was his sponsor and James Lawson was the sponsor for Margaret [perhaps her father]. To date I have not found death records for eight of their ten with only two sons (again) surviving to marry. They were Adam b1731 who married Elizabeth Watson in 1762, and William b1747 who married Margaret McLean (record not found). 

Charles' brother James, had 10 children, yet again, with his wife Agnes/Ann Smith (marriage record not found). Four children are recorded as infant deaths, while marriages or death records have not been found for three children. Three children known to have married are Walter b1742 who married Alison Smith and Katherine Simpson, Janet b1748 who married Alexander Kennoway, and James b1753 who married Jane Taylor. 

These 30 children are known only from Baptism records. These early records do not provide information about the causes of their death. Except for two of Thomas's sons, both called Thomas. They died six years apart but their death is recorded alike as "Thomas Buchan a dead born child". Sadly their births are listed as an unnamed child, but the birth date is the same as the death date.

[This Buchan family in Dalkeith is likely the forebears of our family. James b1753 and Jane moved to Easthouses in Newbattle Parish, though there is no marriage for them to be found on ScotlandsPeople. I believe that our patriarch George may be their eldest son. There is only one baptism record for a George Buchan in Midlothian, in 1777 a George is born in St Cuthbert's parish to John Buchan, a weaver and Elizabeth Taylor (neither name is given to our Buchan siblings). It is likely that James and Jane belonged to a church that did not keep such records, and perhaps that George's baptism was similarly not recorded. Nevertheless, the next four children of James and Jane were baptised in Newbattle parish. George is first recorded in Dewarton, Borthwick Parish, about 3 km from Easthouses.]

As I gather complete death or mortality information, look out for future posts on individual family lines and trends over time.